“And a Shepard is one of the most devoted dogs around. I’m thinking of getting a Belgian Malinois which is a smaller version of a Shepard, very devoted.”
Our German shepherd rescue saves about 5-10 per year and we commonly refer to them as mallinuts and mallingators due to their high prey drive and endless energy. We adopt them out only to experienced shepherd owners.
The reason I mentioned the Belgian is I read a story of a Belgian bomb dog who was wounded in Afghanistan and her handler died. The story (a novel) was written from the dogs perspective, like she was narrating what was going on in her life. She wound up being attached to a cop. It was a great story and I can’t remember the book title. I live in a vast forest area on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. I do a lot of hiking and having such a dog as the Belgian would be a good thing. I’d have her trained by a specialist.
I now have 2 German Shepherds. One is mixed but I have always had labs before and was really surprised on the difference of GSD and labs. I love both breeds but GSD are special.
My daughter has had two Mal....Fiercely loyal and really smart.....